Poetry Night in Ann Arbor is a dynamic poetry variety show that brings together student poets from the campus and community with three spectacular renowned poets—Marcus Wicker, Marty McConnell, and Tommye Blount—for a lively and entertaining evening of phenomenal poetry.

Born in Ann Arbor and raised in Ypsilanti, Marcus Wicker is the author of three books of poetry: DEAR MOTHERSHIP (forthcoming from Ecco), Silencer (Mariner/Ecco, 2017)—winner of the Society of Midland Authors Award—and Maybe the Saddest Thing (Harper Perennial, 2012), selected by D.A. Powell for the National Poetry Series.

Marty McConnell is the author of two books of poetry: when they say you can't go home again, what they mean is you were never there, (Southern Indiana University Press, 2018)—winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize—and wine for a shotgun (EM Press, 2012), which received the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Awards and was a finalist for both the Audre Lorde Award (Publishing Triangle) and the Lambda Literary Awards.

Born and raised in Detroit, Tommye Blount is the author of the chapbook What Are We Not For (Bull City Press, 2016) and the full-length collection of poetry Fantasia for the Man in Blue (Four Way Books, 2020)—which was finalist for the National Book Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.

Marcus, Marty, and Tommye will be joined by outstanding student poets from the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor Public Schools, with an opportunity for volunteers from the audience to get involved in an on-stage haiku battle.

This event is organized by Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts (LSWA) and this program was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.